SAN DIEGO – The Aztec women's basketball team opens their 2023-24 season at Portland Monday at 5 p.m. The Pilots won 23 games last year, the same amount as the Aztecs, and made the NCAA Tournament after winning the WCC Tournament.
Aztec Tidbits
• SDSU rallied to beat Portland 55-53 in San Diego last season on a Sophia Ramos running bank shot as time expired. The Aztecs trailed the Pilots by seven with 3:43, but then held Portland without a field goal for the rest of the game.
• The Aztecs are coming off their best season since 2012-13. They won 23 games, tied for third place in the Mountain West and qualified for the WNIT.
• San Diego State held opponents to a Mountain West-low 57.3 points per game last year.
• In 2022-23, the Aztecs had their best assist-to-turnover ratio (1.06) since the 1983-84 season.
• San Diego State had three players earn All-Mountain West recognition last year (Asia Avinger, Yummy Morris and Sophia Ramos). However, none of them return for the 2023-24 season.
• The Aztecs' projected starting lineup features two sixth year seniors (Barcello and Prohaska), two fifth year seniors (Lewis and Quezada) and a fourth year senior (Villalobos).
• SDSU replenished their backcourt with a pair of transfer guards in Erin Houpt (Mercer) and Jada Lewis (Portland St.). Houpt, a junior, has a career three-point percentage of 41.2% and averaged 12.6 points last season while leading the nation in free-throw percentage (93.9). Lewis comes to SDSU after scoring 906 points and making 207 threes across four seasons at Portland St. Last year she averaged 11.4 points & led the Big Sky with 80 made threes.
• The Aztecs also added F Adryana Quezada after she redshirted at SDSU last season. In 2021-22 at Utah State, she was an All-Mountain West honorable selection after averaging 15.2 points and 7.9 rebounds per game.
• The Aztecs brought in three freshmen guards. The trio of Mia Davis, Alyssa Jackson and Trinity Zamora were ranked as three of the top four incoming freshmen in the Mountain West by Three and D, and Zamora was named the Mountain West Preseason Co-Freshman of the Year.
• SDSU has two players in their sixth year of college (Sarah Barcello and Abby Prohaska) and two in their fifth year (Jada Lewis and Adryana Quezada). Starting forward Kim Villalobos, who started every game last year.
• Villalobos (El Salvador) and Quezada (Puerto Rico) played for their respective countries' senior national team over the summer. Villalobos averaged 15.8 points and 10.2 rebounds per game.
• San Diego State was picked to finish in fifth place in the Mountain West preseason poll.
• The Aztecs non-conference schedule features eight games against teams with winning records and five against teams that made the postseason a year ago. SDSU hosts perennial powerhouse Stanford Dec. 1.
• SDSU will have two games broadcast on national television: Jan. 7 vs. Fresno State on CBS Sports Network and Jan. 20 vs. San Jose State on FS1.
Opponent Notebook (Portland)
• The Pilots went 23-9 last year and were 15-3 in the WCC. Their 23-9 record was their best since the 1996-97 season.
• Portland beat Gonzaga in the WCC Championship game to qualify for their second NCAA Tournament in the last four years.
• The Pilots were picked to finish second in the WCC.
• Last season Portland the led WCC in assists per game (16.9), field goal percentage (.457), steals per game (9.6) and turnovers forced per game (17.3)
• Maisie Burnham and Emme Shearer were named to the All-WCC Preseason Team.
• Burnham averaged 11.0 points per game last year and shot 38% from three. She made the All-WCC Second Team last year.
• Shearer averaged 10.0 points last season and was an All-WCC Honorable Mention selection.
All-time Series (Portland)
• This is just the fourth meeting all-time between the two programs.
• Portland leads the series 2-1, winning the first two before losing at SDSU last year.
• The Aztecs rallied to beat Portland 55-53 in San Diego last season on a Sophia Ramos running bank shot as time expired. The Aztecs trailed the Pilots by seven with 3:43, but then held Portland without a field goal for the rest of the game.
• This will be SDSU's first time playing in Portland.
• In the previous three meetings, neither team has ever topped 60 points.
• Their first meeting was Nov. 20, 1999, where Portland won 50-49.
Aztecs Open Season at Portland Monday
